The Three-Body Problem spans multiple decades and characters, but it zooms¹ in on Ye Wenjie and Wang Miao, two scientists in the very near future. Wenjie is an astrophysicist, while Miao is a nanotech engineer, and he's been swept up in a virtual-reality, online video game called Three Body that's so deeply metaphysical, it's begun to resemble a cult².

三体I：地球往事》（后边简称《三体》）这本书里前后跨了好几十年，人物角色众多，但它的视角却锁定在叶文洁和汪淼身上。在不久的将来，他俩是科学家——叶文洁是一名天体物理学家，而汪淼则是一名纳米技术工程师，他被卷入了一款名为“三体”的网络电子游戏。其中的虚拟现实场景极为玄妙，渐渐变得犹如一门宗教。

Either of these premises³ alone would be make for a rich SF novel, but Cixin Liu is only getting warmed up. By the time the book hits its peak, it's unveiled a conspiracy⁴ that spans solar systems — one that not only threatens to alter the human race, but the very building blocks of physics that we've evolved to understand.

以上这些前题中的任何一个都可造就一本内容丰富的科幻小说，而它们仅是刘慈欣这本小说中的热身环节而已。此书在达到高潮之际，向读者揭晓了一场遍布太阳系的阴谋。这场阴谋不仅会威胁到人类种族的安稳，还将彻底颠覆人类在进化过程中悟出的物理科学原理。

This hard SF is full of lovingly lengthy⁵ passages of technical exposition about everything from quantum mechanics to artificial intelligence. But Cixin Liu supports all of that brain twisting theory with empathetic characters and a strong action-thriller backbone⁶.

在这本硬科幻小说中，作者好心地为科技博览做长段阐释，从量子力学再到人工智能。而刘慈欣创造出引人共鸣的诸多人物，并营造惊悚动作片的浓郁氛围，来展现所有这些烧脑的理论。

For all its universal appeal, The Three-Body Problem is set against a specific backdrop, one that most English-language readers only know from a distance. Many of its major points hinge on the knowledge of Chinese history and culture — and while Ken⁷ Liu's translation is clear, tasteful, and lyrical, there's a lot of exposition to chew on. It's worth every ounce of effort. The book's well-earned suspense⁸ hinges on moral dilemmas⁹ that resonate far beyond its nationality or even its heady, abstract physics.

三体》这本书老少皆宜，其设定在一个特定的背景下，因此大部分说英文的读者不为熟知。书中的许多重点建立在中国的历史与文化基础上——不过刘宇昆的英译本脉络清晰、耐人寻味而又韵律十足。其中许多表述值得读者花上些功夫细细品读。书中所展现的道德困境远远挣脱了民族，甚至是那令人头晕的抽象物理知识（的束缚）。

At what point does science become dogma, and what point does that same dogma become religion? Cixin Liu doesn't pose that question so much as let it play out in a sweeping¹⁰ drama that risks the highest stakes imaginable. If The Three-Body Problem (and the next two books in the series, whose translations are in the works) helps bridge the gap between Eastern and Western SF, it will have performed a great duty for the literary world.

在何时科学成为教条，又是何时那教条会发展成宗教信仰？刘慈欣并没有提出这样的问题，他只是让问题本身在这场恢弘磅礴的舞台大戏中粉墨登场。如若《三体I：地球往事》（《三体》系列的后两部也在被英译）能帮助拉近东西方科幻小说的距离，那么它将在文学界担负起巨大的责任。